first ride Firmstrong Urban Shimano

Well my bike arrived today. I ordered it from beachbikes.net on Monday and it arrived here in Dallas on Thursday. Not too bad of a wait. I put it together in about 30 minutes. I have never put a bike together before but I watched a tutorial online and it helped a lot.

Here is the package:

It came neatly packed in a box. Easy to pull apart and assemble.

So I finally got it all put together and I decided to take it for a spin. Here it is all put together:

Im 37 years old, 5'11" and 269 pounds as of this morning. Two months ago I was 293. Im on doctors orders to get some exercise to help lower my cholesterol levels. Ive also changed my diet significantly. I figured a beach cruiser would be a good start into biking. My last bike was a 1986 redline bmx bike when I was a kid.

So I took the bike to my neighborhood pool about a 1 mile ride with some slow inclines. So a total of about 2 miles or maybe a bit more. It was fun but it was pretty tough going up those hills. Felt good to get some exercise in though and I could feel the legs burn. Im going to go up to autozone to get a air pressure gauge because i cant tell how much air I have in my tires. I know it makes a big difference and I think mine are a bit low. Im going to ride this thing everyday weather permitting. I know its going to get my in good shape and eventually I plan on getting a mountain bike so that I can hit some trails around here. I have been reading up on mountain biking a lot lately and it sounds like a lot of fun.

here is my bike at the half way point in my neighborhood:

Nice looking bike huh? I think so!

Im looking forward to going riding at parks and where ever else I can go. Looking to get down to about 210 lbs. Thats how much I weighed when I was playing college football way back in the mid 90's

I'm sure that you like your new bike and I applaud you for taking the initiative to get in better shape. Sometime in the future, you might want to consider getting a bike with gears to make the hill climbing easier. That would also widen your horizons in terms of areas where you can ride.

Anyway, have a good time on your bike and keep us posted on how it's going!

Enjoy, thats a good looking bike. I think that a geared bike would be something to think about adding to the stable if you see that you are going to want to keep riding. But for now just ride the heck out of what you have and have a great time getting healthier.

Take it very easy, at least for few months... I was a little lighter than you about 4 years ago ( I was around 260ihs... and 35year YOUNG). I decided to get back in my good shape ( sub 175 ) and I restarted exercising with good intensity. mainly jogging... I did't realize the toll that almost 10 years of sedentary life will take on you... bottom line I did sprained my right ankle 4 time, my left once and with all the up and down I still managed to get down at less than 210.... than I pop 2 disk in the back.. and welcome back in the 250 after few months of inactivity and physical therapy... now, I recently restarted biking... I'm above 600 miles and feels good. I dropped 20 lbs and it's going down... the bigger benefits are that my BP is dropping, my HR went from a base of above 80 to low 60s... and I also restarted to do some light weight gym. do some simple exercise with a light ( 10/15/20lbs ) kettle bell if you have time... cycling tends to make you lose weight everywhere, including muscles and bones if you start doing for hours at the time.

Eventually I'll get back in the gym. I used to play college football so I know a lot about working out. It's been a long time since I've seen a gym though. i'm going to try and ride every day I can. Probably just 3-4 miles in the beginning but hope to add on the distance as I get more in shape. My navigable hood has many miles of walking and bike paths and the back of the neighborhood has miles of roads that have no homes on them so I have lots of open space to ride. I plan on getting a mountain bike in a couple months once my body gets used to cycling.